Every Cloud has a Silver Lining
by Cloud Leonheart
Summary: Leftover Jenova cells cause problems for an older Cloud Strife... But in what way? Definately not AU this time, might be unintentionally OOC, possible OC too. R&R anyway! Oh, yeah, rated for safety


_Usual disclaimery thing: Don't own any characters, except those that are of my own creation (I shall place a NOC - or New Original Character - warning in each chapter that introduces an original character). Also, don't whack me over the head repeatedly over calling Aeris Aeris. That's what's imprinted in my mind, that's what I use. WARNING: People die in this fic. Don't hate me just because your favourite got owned._

**Every Cloud has a Silver Lining: Day 1 - Going Grey**

"Getting old are we, Spikes?" Yuffie giggled, Cloud'd just come back from the bathroom, and it turns out his hair had started turning grey.

"Knock it off." Cloud wasn't in the best of moods. He was hungover from his 35th birthday party, had found out he was starting to get grey hairs, and to top it all off, someone'd stolen his bike two days ago. Yuffie smiled, she wasn't that much younger than Cloud, but the fact that he'd started going grey, and he was nearly 40, was enough for her to poke fun out of him, after all, she'd always been ready to prod his temper.

"So whatcha up to today, Papa Cloud?" Her tone irritated his sore head, and he motioned her to go away. She did, much to his surprise, then he went to get changed into something that he could wear whilst getting a bottle of milk, because he'd drunk the last of it - his mother told him that milk is one of the few drinks that could help with a hangover.

Cloud sighed, because he had one of those feelings in his gut that usually meant someone he knew was going to die... He'd had it when Aeris died, and he'd had it when Marlene died of that mysterious poison days after her sixth birthday. Today, someone he knew was definately going to die... Be murdered, if his previous experiences were anything to go by. He sighed and got changed into a simple blue sweater and jeans, also putting his hair down, and into a ponytail. He'd dealt with the grey hairs, so he still looked kind of young. Yuffie walked back in again, still wearing her pyjamas - black with different coloured materia-styke embroidery, aptly enough - and looked like she hadn't aged a day over 20. She smiled at him, and then gave him a hug.

"Changing our look to match our age, are we papa?" He sighed and returned the hug, then went to get the milk.

Cloud didn't live anywhere fancy like the others did after defeating Sephiroth again, and after Vincent, as Chaos, destroyed Omega Weapon. He lived with Yuffie in Condor, a small village of which the famous Fort Condor is the central attraction. It was to both of their tastes - Cloud wanted somewhere out of the way, but with people that lived nearby. Yuffie wanted somewhere in the countryside, not too close to the sea, but not too far either, and also with at least semi-easy access to somewhere that had a decent Materia store. They both agreed on Condor, as it was out of the way, had people nearby, wasn't too far from the sea, or from Junon, which had since boomed into _the_ place for Materia.

Despite his bad feeling he had whilst getting changed, Cloud wasn't going to put off getting milk any longer. His head was pounding as if a marching band had taken up residence in it, so he needed more milk for his mother's hangover cure. _Fluffy'd complain if she couldn't have milk on her chocolate cereal too_, Cloud thought, using his favourite nickname for Yuffie as part of another reason to get milk. On his way back, Cloud heard a peculiar sound in the background. It sounded like the soothing song of the Sector 5 Church that he and Aeris had introduced each other in. He smiled as he remembered the good times he had with Aeris, then went back inside to see Yuffie waiting for the milk for her cereal, causing him to laugh.

"Want some milk on that cereal Fluffy? She cringed at the mention of that nickname of hers - and made a note to herself to take Cloud over to Tifa for a bit of 'memory refreshing' down in Wall Market. Cloud gave her the bottle of milk and she hugged it as if it was some sort of comfort blanket, then poured it over her cereal - which was gone in a matter of minutes - then smiled at Cloud as he went upstairs. _Age has only made him cuter. What was it he said about that blonde over the road - Oh yeah, that was it... I'd tap that!_

Cloud felt his stomach heave as he threw up what little remained in his stomach from his party. _Ugh, shouldn't've had those spring rolls..._ He heard the soft song of Aeris' church again, and felt a complelling urge to go there... Grabbing his sword, he went downstairs to tell Yuffie that he was going for a long walk, and that she was to help herself to lunch and dinner. Halfway down the stairs though, he blacked out.

Yuffie heard Cloud coming down the stairs, and smiled at him,

"I heard you doing your me impersonation again." He laughed in a way slightly different to his usual laugh, but she shrugged it off as him still being a bit drunk.

"I'm gonna go out for a while. Make yourself lunch and dinner." Yuffie nodded, not looking at Cloud. She heard Cloud's footsteps towards her, and turned to face him, thinking he was going to give her a cuddle before he left. The last thing Yuffie Kisaragi saw was a pair of mako-cyan eyes as she felt something sharp pierce her stomach.

When Cloud regained his senses, he noticed that there was blood on his shirt... Had he been unknowingly bleeding again? No, this wasn't his blood... It had a strange sweet tint to it when he tasted it. He went upstairs and noticed that the blood had gotten all over him, so he showered and got changed into an identical pair of jeans, and an identical blue sweater. He went downstairs, wondering why Yuffie was so quiet.

"Fluffy?" No answer. "Yuff?" Nobody answered. Next he noticed it was about 7pm, which confused him, as it had only been 9am when he blacked out... "Yuffie, you can come talk to me now!" Again, no answer. Now Cloud began to worry, so he started looking around. In an hour, he had found out that there were bloodstains on the living room carpet, the living room wall, along the kitchen floor, and heading towards his room... He gulped, as whatever had been bleeding might still be in his room. Grabbing his sword, he slowly pushed the door open - and immediately wished he hadn't. Because there, in his room, was a corpse.

Opening his door further, he saw it was human, and edging towards the corpse, he noticed it was female. Nudging the corpse with his foot, he discovered that she'd been killed by being stabbed with a large sword straight through the stomach, through to the back.

He stepped over the corpse.

He saw the corpse's face.

His jaw dropped.

The corpse, was Yuffie's.

Something, or someone, had killed her whilst he'd been blacked out. Looking towards the mirror, he noticed that the grey hairs were back, and had brought company... He also noticed the message in a mirror, the message written on it in blood scared him so much he ran out of the house screaming.

The message on the mirror read "Every Cloud has a Silver Lining. Yours is only now starting to show." It was signed intriguingly too, as it was a name Cloud was familiar with, but would rather have not seen there... "Cloud Jenoa." Sephiroth's surname was Jenoa. So was Kadaj's. And Loz's. And Yazoo's. One thought ran through his mind before he passed out:

_The Jenova cells in my body must be changing me... Into one of them._

_The Silver-Haired Men._

_Okay, I took a little liberty here -- but I do believe I stayed accurate to both characters' personalities. Read, Review, Rant, Rave, Reward, whatever. Also worth noting: First chapter of a fic I've written on my laptop! _


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